I'm building a web site that will allow users to upload photos. For design and layout purposes, I need to know the most common aspect ratios users will upload. What is the most common aspect ratio of photos (e.g from dSLR, smart phones, etc.)?

1 Answer
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The two most common aspect ratios are 4:3 and 3:2. You will also see a significant number of 1:1 (square) photos and 16:9 ("widescreen") images.

3:2 is the aspect ratio of 35mm film cameras, and that has carried over to most DSLRs, both the APS-C size and "full-frame". Most compact digital cameras, along with the Micro Four Thirds interchangeable-lens mirrorless system, use 4:3.

Most smartphones are also normally 4:3, but popular apps like Instagram and Hipstamatic produce square 1:1 images, so you can't discount that. And, the HDTV-like 16:9 aspect ratio is a common option in many cameras of all types (usually but not always just by cropping off the top and bottom of each image in-camera).

It would probably also be wise to consider the possibility of arbitrarily-wide panoramic images, as many cameras (both via apps and just as a feature) have the ability to produce those very easily. And, of course, you really shouldn't discount cropping, both to historically-standard ratios like 8:10 and 5:7, and completely arbitrarily.

And keep in mind that you will also see these turned the other way: 3:4 and 2:3 for portraits; 9:16 looks odd and is less likely, but the theme here really is that anything goes.

In that case, go with 3:2. That's the ratio used by Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Sony, and Sigma DSLRs. Only those from Panasonic and Olympus use 4:3 (and the latter companies are now focused on their non-DSLR system cameras).
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mattdmJan 21 '13 at 7:10

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Keep in mind that photos can be portrait orientation as well. Then they are 2:3, 3:4 and so on. It's frequently overlooked by our graphics designers as well.
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sbaechlerJan 21 '13 at 22:32